


Midnight at the Carnival

by inbarati



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-14
Updated: 2010-04-14
Packaged: 2017-10-08 23:00:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inbarati/pseuds/inbarati





	1. Chapter 1

Xander pulled the lever that started the Ferris wheel. Tilting his head back to watch the giant wheel spin, he gave serious consideration to running away with this carnival. High school seriously sucked, and the Hellmouth could probably do without him. He'd miss Willow and Buffy, but wasn't that what prepaid phone cards were for? The trailer they had given him wasn't much better than living with his parents, stylewise, but had the definite advantage of being sans parents. Reminding himself to tell Willow that he had actually remembered something from French class, he pushed the lever into the 'stop' position, and let another couple on.

The couples always made him sigh. He had hoped Jesse would stop mooning over Cordelia and see what was right in front of him, but it was too late now. Jesse was dead, almost a year gone. He sighed again and watched as the twinkling lights came on. Jesse was the only reason he had this job. The fake ID that Jesse had goaded him into getting had pretty much gone unused until he had seen the ad for this job. He hadn't gone back home, buying new stuff at the thrift store instead. His parents hadn't looked for him, and he'd just avoided telling Willow and Buffy. It was funny the things people didn't notice.

He had just traded off his flashlight to Zero, who was a year older than him, and had been the one to tell him about after-dark security detail, which paid $25 extra a week. Xander had the 10 – 2 shift this week, which made him happy, because he didn't have to get up at two in the morning. Zero slept, when he slept, in the trailer that Xander thought of as his. But Zero almost never slept, preferring little red pills that made him too shaky to buzz a straight line for his electric green mohawk. So now that was part of Xander's job, too.

He strolled back to the trailer, enjoying the stars, and a sense of peace he hadn't felt since, well, ever. Someone was sitting on the trailer steps, slumped over a bottle. Probably September, who had been intermittently hitting on him, but was too drunk to really follow through on it.

"Sept, you should really talk to me when you're sober, because I think you're cute and all, but passing out mid-kiss is such a turn off." He hauled the figure upright, gasping and stumbling when this revealed a shock of white-blonde hair and an unfocused blue gaze, rather than September's long, straight black hair, and deep brown eyes.

"Oh, shit! Spike!" Xander tripped and fell backwards.

The vampire seemed to focus with the help of his name. " S'you! Bloody slayer's boy. Been waitin' here t'kill you for hours, now. Most blokes, you just walk right up and kill 'em. But not you! Gotta make a sodding appointment to kill Xander sodding Harris!" Spike stood, but his legs wouldn't hold him, and he slumped back down. "Bloody hell!"

"Aren't you supposed to be far away from here, with Drusilla? What did I do that made you come all the way back here to kill me? And really, it's insulting to be killed by a vampire who's so drunk he can't even stand up. Couldn't you come back when you're sober?" Xander began to crab-crawl backwards reaching for a discarded tent stake on the ground. Fuck, the universe hated him. Plastic.

"Dru's the reason why I'm here. She kept goin' on 'bout sodding kittens with poems for faces who're for me, so she can be with her bloody 'daddy', and I won't be left alone." Spike slid down a stair, and failed to get his feet under him a second time.

"Well you're not in any condition to be killing anyone tonight. Why don't you go find Drusilla and tell her you killed me, and we'll call it even." Xander fervently prayed to any gods who watched over stupid teenage boys that Buffy would take it into her head to patrol the carnies tonight. Right now, in fact, would be an excellent moment for her to turn that corner.

When he turned back to look at Spike, the vampire was very slowly and deliberately shaking his head. "She'd know. She knows things." He swayed with each shake of his head, and listed too far, falling off the stairs.

Xander stood up, dusting himself off. Shaking his head, he went and pulled Spike upright, next to the stairs. "You, my friend, are in bad shape. Only, not my friend. Figure of speech."

"I'm your figure of speech?" Confused blue eyes gazed up at him. "Don't have any friends, just Dru."

"Shit. I must have a death wish. Okay, buddy, listen up. I'm gonna let you sleep in the trailer tonight. I won't stake you while you're too drunk to help yourself, but you have to promise not to kill me. When the sun goes down, you leave, and don't ever come back, got it?" Spike was already passed out, and Xander took that as consent. Dragging the vampire into the trailer he laid him out on the bed, pulling off his boots.

Grabbing a stake from his bag of stuff, he settled down in the chair across from the bed, staring at the vampire, until sleep took him.  
******************************************************************

Zero woke him, in the morning for his shift. "Your friend's cool, right? He won't rat me out to the boss or anything?"

"I think that's the least of our worries where he's concerned. I wouldn't sleep in here today."

"Not sleeping today. He fiending? I could hook him up, I got some stuff." Zero started rifling through his cargo pants.

Xander put out a hand to stop him, "It's okay Zee. He just needs to sleep it off." With that, Xander headed off to a day full of screaming children and saccharine couples.  
*******************************************************************

When he handed his flashlight off to Zero that night, the older boy said, "Your friend's waiting for you. He says he's hungry."

"Uhh… Thanks, man." Xander kicked himself for honestly believing that the vampire would just leave. Still he wasn't stupid. He pulled a stake out of his back pocket before opening the door.

"I thought we had an agreement?" Xander sighed as he walked in the door. He was so gonna be vamp chow.

"We did, but I'm evil." Spike leered at him. "I'm kidding, don't look like that." The vampire moved closer. Xander backed into a wall. Spike continued forward until his arms were on either side of Xander's head, and he was leaning against Xander's wall. "I had this thought."

Xander was having difficulty breathing. If Spike didn't bite him soon, he was going to asphyxiate out of fear. He dropped the stake. "Uhh… What thought was that?"

"Well," the vampire purred, "it seems I owe you a favor. So I'm not going to kill you yet."

"Why do I get the feeling I should be more worried about this than you killing me?" Xander swallowed convulsively.

"I was thinking we could make a go of it, the way Dru said. You and me," the vampire pressed his body against Xander's. "Together. If it doesn't work out, then I go back to Dru and tell her so. If she'll have me back without killing you, you live. If she sends me back, I kill you."

Xander shivered. "That doesn't seem like a very good deal to me." He stuffed down the part of his mind that was doing the snoopy dance over the mere idea of sexy vampire things.

"Well then, I guess I have to kill you now," Spike sighed. With a crunch his face shifted. He fisted a hand in Xander's hair and pulled his head aside, baring an expanse of tanned neck. Xander went limp, completely giving up the fight, as Spike bit him, much more gently than he had expected. The feeling made him half hard, and Spike pressed against him, rubbing his erection against Xander, driving him to full hardness in seconds. Xander groaned. It wasn't enough to be killed by a vampire, he had to have a hard-on when he died.

Spike had no intention of leaving Xander hard. Pulling both their flies open, Spike took both of their cocks in his hand, pressing them between his hips and Xander's, and doing a slow, undulating roll with his hips. He made a pleased humming sound at the cry this pulled from Xander. Xander felt the vibration in his neck, which caused him to moan, which caused another pleased humming sound, which made him buck his hips, which made Spike's roll pick up speed. Soon Xander was panting and thrusting back against Spike with more enthusiasm than finesse. Spike pulled his head back and slid into human face to kiss Xander.

The taste of his blood on the vampire's lips made Xander come harder than he ever had in his life. "You didn't kill me," was the only confused remark, before Xander passed out.  
****************************************************************

It was past noon when Xander woke. "Shit, I so can't afford to get fired from this job."  
"You're not going to," said a voice from across the room. "Zero's taking your shift. Told the boss you had the flu."

Xander groaned and pulled the sheet over his head. "Why didn't you kill me?"

"Didn't want to. Told you, I owe you a favor. Besides, you want me, and Dru obviously doesn't. It's really in my best interest to keep you around. You're tasty."

Xander didn't have to look to see Spike licking his lips. He felt the bed sink a little, and felt a hand on his shoulder. "Drink this, you'll feel better."

It was a glass of orange juice.

Xander wasn't quite sure what to make of that. He'd expected booze, or blood, but orange juice? He sipped. It tasted good. He drained the glass.

"Guess I was thirsty," he said. Spike handed him a gallon.

"Drink as much as you want. Are you hungry?"

"Ummm… why are you doing this?" Xander was confused. Maybe he was dead and this was some sort of weird post-death hallucination.

"Doing what?" Spike pulled a huge steak out of the mini fridge and put a frying pan on the hot plate.

"I don't have steak, or orange juice, and you can't go out in daylight. And you're being nice to me. Which makes no sense. Or maybe it does if you think we're going to … do that again, but we're not. I'm not into vampires, and I'm not sure if I'm into guys, there was one guy, and he was a vampire, but I dusted him by accident, and I'm incredibly clumsy, and not altogether bright, as Willow would say, and you'll get bored, and oh my god, what will Willow think? I probably have a monster hickey, and – "

Spike gently put a hand over Xander's mouth. "I broke the lock on the grocery, and took stuff I thought would be good for you. Judging by your behavior last night you are most definitely into both men and vampires, Willow can think what she'd like, and you don't have a hickey." Spike grinned. "And I'm keeping you, so you might as well get used to it." He removed his hand, and taking Xander's silence as permission, kissed him again.

Xander decided to go with that. Spike was hot, he wanted Xander, and Xander had long ago accepted the fact that he was easy. He kissed back.

"My steak is gonna burn…" He grinned. Steak for breakfast in bed suddenly didn't sound like a bad idea.

Spike got up and flipped the steak. It wasn't love yet, but lust and acceptance would do for now.


	2. Chapter 2

The steak was medium rare, just the way Xander liked it. He was hungrier than he had ever been in his life, wolfing down half of it in just a few minutes. Spike was eating the other half. Xander stared.

Spike was aware of the scrutiny. "What?"

"You eat. Vampires aren't supposed to eat real food. Angel doesn't eat."

Spike closed his eyes. "Just because the poof wears a hair shirt doesn't mean I sodding well have to!" He sighed and opened his eyes. "Don't have a soul to make me feel like I should be doing penance, and food tastes good. Human blood tastes better, but if I take too much from you, you'll get sick. And I don't see how eating your mates will make you like me. I need blood to survive, but I had plenty last night." Spike leered at him. Xander tried hard not to blush, but he did anyway. Damned teenage hormones.

Zero made his appearance just then. "Hey, feeling better? Sept was asking for you. Samson wants to talk to you, too." Zero eyed the remnants of Spike's steak hungrily.

"Yeah, I guess I just hadn't eaten in too long." Xander started to get out of bed, and realized he was naked under the sheet. "I'll… uh… get dressed and go see Samson."

"Bring your friend. We could use another hand with the hauling, and that kid who runs the Jenny is leaving. That is, if you're gonna jump with us." Zero opened the door and stood in the stairs, but looked back. Spike handed him the steak. "I hope you do. You're no gaucho." The door closed softly behind him.

"Gaucho?" Spike quirked a scarred eyebrow.

"A civilian who takes a carnie job." Xander pulled a clean pair of jeans and a shirt out of his duffel. "Jenny is the Merry-go-Round, and Samson is the owner." He looked at Spike. "I'd like to stay with the show awhile, but if you have other plans now's the time to tell me. I'll be very unpleased if you decide to ditch without giving Samson some warning."

"I didn't really have much of a plan, actually. We can stay with the carnival awhile. Can't work outside during the day, though." Spike lit another cigarette. "He might not want a freeloader."

"We mostly set up the rides at night, though, and that's the hardest work. No-one wants to do it, but it'll probably be easier for you, vamp strength and all. And if Zero agrees, we can split the night detail into three shifts." Xander looked thoughtfully at Spike. "I started out here working the backyard, but it's pretty easy to move up if you're not a total screw-up. You've seen Zero, and September is a total alcoholic, but he's also a master electrician. Zee will introduce him to you as the juice man."

Spike pulled a now fully-clothed Xander towards him. " 'Simportant to you, isn't it? So we'll do it. I'll figure out some way to make myself useful." Pulling Xander into his lap, he kissed him.

Xander blushed, but kissed back. He was so going to hell for lusting after the damned. He pulled back. "How is it that you, a vampire, are nicer to me than my own parents? Even Buffy and Willow are gonna yell at me when they find out I'm not in Sunnydale anymore."

Ignoring the question, Spike redirected the subject. "Not gonna say a fond farewell to your friends? They out of town or something?"

"Nooo…" Xander replied, "but they will probably stake you if they find out you bit me. Buffy might stake you anyway, on general principle. Indunwnattapen." Xander ducked his head.

"What was that, pet?" The boy was flushed from toes to nose, and Spike itched to taste him again. He worked a hand under the back of Xander's shirt, and began to softly scratch the small of his back.

"I don't want Buffy to stake you, okay?! I'm betraying everything I ever learned about vampires, and possibly losing my friends because I'm some kind of freaky undead-loving freak!" Xander stood up and started to pace.

Spike stood in his path and put his arms around Xander, pulling him close. "I don't mean for you to lose your friends, pet, but I can't be other than what I am. And could you imagine, just a little, that the things you've been taught might not have been entirely factual? Starting with – you are not a freak. Humans and vampires have formed symbiotic pairs for thousands of years. Generally, the human gets turned eventually, but not by force. Because they want to. Want to be with their other forever. If you want, I'll promise never to turn you against your will. Never been one for forcing people, anyway." He reached over and dropped his butt into a paper cup with some old soda in it.

"You'd do that?" Xander was dumbstruck. He looked up at Spike, a question in his eyes.

Spike kissed him. "Yeah, I would. I swear by the stars, I will never do anything to you that you don't want me to. Err… within reason. If you ask me to stop kissing you, you're out of luck."

Xander smiled. " 'Kay." He looked out the window thoughtfully for a minute. "I think we have an hour before sunset." He traced a finger down the smooth stretch of Spike's chest, and glanced up at Spike through his eyelashes. "What should we do until then?"

Spike had Xander's legs wrapped around him in an instant, and they kissed all the way to the bed. Spike sucked gently on the bite mark he had left the night before, and Xander threw his head back, moaning.

"And you said you didn't like vampires." Spike grinned against his neck.

"I have been seduced by the powers of the dark side." Xander ran the flat of his palms over Spike's shoulders. Spike snorted against his neck, and damn it, even that went straight to Xander's cock. He pulled Spike towards him with heels on his ass, arching up against him provocatively.

Spike fell forward, kneeling between Xander's legs. He slid his hands up Xander's belly and chest, pushing the t-shirt up and pulling it off over his head. Skin to skin from the waist up, they kissed until they both had to stop and breathe.

"Angel doesn't breathe, either." Xander joked, and Spike rolled his eyes.

" 'Course he does. Pour some holy water on him sometime, and see." They both laughed until their noses bumped, and then they were kissing again, and Xander resolved to learn how to breathe through his ears so he wouldn't ever have to stop. Spike left him gasping for breath and licked a broad stripe up his chest, ending on a nipple that he licked and nibbled until Xander's fingers were fisted in his hair, and his feet planted on the mattress so he could thrust against Spike, who used the upward tilt of Xander's hips as an excuse to slide his jeans off. Spike knelt at the end of the bed and just looked, until Xander covered himself with the sheet self-consciously. "Hey, now! None of that." Spike pulled the sheet back.

"The staring is kind of giving me the wiggins." Xander complained. "Big hairy wiggins, with lots of legs." He nodded emphatically.

"So you'll let me jerk you off and drink your blood, but looking is off the menu?" Spike trailed his fingers up Xander's inner thighs, causing them to fall open.

"Didn't you look enough while I was unconscious?" Xander could feel himself losing this argument.

Spike leaned forward and sucked on Xander's earlobe before whispering, "Where you're concerned? I don't think there's anything like 'enough'."

Xander blushed again, the succulent scent of his arousal becoming even stronger. No-one had ever, ever said anything like that to him. It was a little overwhelming, and Xander teared up.

Spike pulled back, and stroked Xander's hair. "What? I bite you and drink till you pass out, and me liking the look of you makes you cry?"

Xander managed a watery smile. "No-one likes to look at me, Spike. I'm a non-entity on the physical radar."

"Not to me you're not. Dru noticed you, too. Just because a bunch of teenage bloodbags don't see it, doesn't mean you aren't beautiful. Orange and green shirts included," Spike joked. "Besides, I'm a self-serving kind of vamp, and generally don't go around giving wanks to unattractive people out of the goodness of my unbeating heart."

Xander giggled at that, and Spike smiled an indulgent sort of smile, before kissing him again. The kisses quickly grew more heated, and Xander tugged on Spike's belt loops. "For someone who is half-naked, you are still wearing entirely too much clothes," Xander said, smiling.

Spike had his pants off before he finished the sentence. He lay down beside Xander on the narrow bed, and Xander pulled back to look. "Like what you see?" Spike smirked at him.

"Oh yeah," Xander breathed. He gently pushed Spike back on the bed, kneeling over him. He kissed Spike's neck, pinching the skin between his teeth, and making the vampire shiver. He sucked hard, bringing blood to the surface, humming in pleasure when Spike moaned. He pulled back and watched the purple mark fade, stroking the smooth white expanse of Spike's stomach.

He kissed is way down the center of Spike's body, calloused fingers cataloging everything along the sides from ribs to thighs. When he came to the stiff length of Spike's cock, he licked from root to tip. "I've um… never really done this before, so I'm going to wing it, and you can tell me what to do if I screw it up."

"Got a better idea, pet. Bring your other end down this way." Confused, Xander complied, inhaling deeply when Spike's cool breath washed over him. "Do what I do, okay?"

Xander nodded, unable to look away from the sight of Spike's mouth so near his cock. He watched as Spike mouthed a drop of precum from the head before sucking it in. Spike wiggled his hips a little, and Xander suddenly remembered what he was supposed to do. He copied Spike's actions. He had to concentrate on the mechanics of what Spike was doing to him, a fact for which he was grateful, since it kept him from coming immediately. He didn't last long, though, coming with a gasp as Spike swallowed around him.

Spike didn't last too long thereafter, Xander's tentative exploration of his foreskin with a pointed tongue overwhelming him with sensation. Xander swallowed the salty fluid without hesitation, licking his lips as he turned to lie down by Spike.

"Sun's down. We should go see your boss." Spike murmured into Xander's hair.

"Yeah, in a minute," Xander replied, lying with his head on Spike's shoulder.

Zero woke them an hour later. "Sept is going to be pissed he missed the Xander full monty." He stood over them with a smirk. "I know you're sick and all, but Samson is going to blow a gasket if you don't talk to him soon. We're doing a circus jump tonight."

Xander was out of bed in a flash, throwing Spike's jeans at him. "We gotta go see the boss. Damned comfy vamp – err… boyfriend, yeah, boyfriend." He shot a look at Zero, who seemed to be oblivious of the slip.

Just then there was a pounding on the door. "Zee get your ass over to the midway, the Jenny needs oil. She squealing like a stuck pig!" Zero opened the door and in walked a heavily muscled man with a cane.

All three foot ten of him.

"Samson! Sorry about today, man." Xander finished pulling on a t-shirt.

Zero slipped quietly out the door, as Samson eyed his newest boy. Samson waited until the door closed to speak, pulling his long hair back and resettling his fedora. "You're a good worker so I'm not going to fire you for faking the flu. But next time, keep your liaisons on your own time." Xander nodded and blushed. "You and your vampire gonna make this jump with us or what?"

Samson's question was greeted with two open mouths. "You boys might wanna shut your yaps before something flies in there."

"How do you – what did you – huh?" Xander stuttered.

"You think I worked in a freak show for nearly fifty years without learning something about freaks? If you're trying to keep it a secret, you might want to cover the bite on your neck." Samson grinned. "I got nothing against vamps, so long as they don't eat my crew, or paying marks. If you're coming, he can roust in the backyard and learn how to run the Jenny, since that good-for-nothing Sullivan is leaving anyway." Samson leaned against the table. "And just in case you ever go to another show, you might want to see what the boss wants when he wants to talk to you on pay day. Too many skints out there who'll pull a red-light job on ya." Samson handed an envelope full of money to Xander, and turned to the door. "If he turns out good, I'll bonus you a fifty. Now get dressed and get to work."


End file.
